The War Court and Lap Pillow, Austria's Mandate of Heaven

Chapter 1699 A Devastating Collapse

Ilhan's troops quickly arrived at the battlefield, by which time the Ottoman New Army stationed there had suffered nearly half casualties.

But the commander of this new army was not happy at all when he saw the reinforcements in front of him.

"What are these guys doing here?"

Ilhan looked down on the newly recruited soldiers who had fought so hard, and said arrogantly from his horse.

"Of course we're here to take over your position. You can hand over your weapons and go rest. We'll come back to relieve you at this time tomorrow."

"Hand over your weapons?" The officer sneered. "That'll have to do with your skills."

Clearly, the disdain was mutual; the commander of the new army would not hand over the weapons his soldiers regarded as their lives, and Ilhan would not let the other side have an easy time.

Therefore, this street could only be guarded by the city defense army and the new army, each guarding half of it.

However, this was soon proven to be a grave mistake, as Ilhan and his men clearly did not understand what war was.

The city garrison began firing when the Russian troops were still hundreds of meters away.

"Sir, look at those silly geese! I just hit one! Can I collect my reward now?"

A squad leader of the city garrison shouted excitedly, and the surrounding soldiers looked at Ilhan with expectant eyes, after all, killing a Russian soldier would earn a bounty of fifty kurush.

Fifty kurush were roughly equivalent to 0.5 pounds, enough to buy two adult sheep, which was a considerable sum for ordinary people in the Ottoman Empire.

Ilhan scoffed. He hadn't expected the Russians to be so incompetent; he should have known better than to promise such a high reward.

At this moment, his old servant understood his master's meaning; naturally, this dirty work should be done by him, the servant.

"You say you shot him, so you shot him? I fired too, and I'll say I killed him! If you want money, cut off the Russian soldier's head first!"

Although the speaker was merely a servant, the city's garrison soldiers dared not utter a word of complaint. They wouldn't dare offend even a dog from the Ilkhanate, let alone such a wicked servant.

However, although they can't afford to offend them, they can resort to passive-aggressive tactics to retaliate.

The city garrison soldiers began their specialty of slacking off, but in just a moment of relaxation (about a few tens of seconds), the Russian army had already closed in on the city garrison.

The Russian troops lined up their guns and fired a volley, wiping out a large portion of Ilhan's men.

Although Ilhan was still some distance from the front line, the screams had already reached his ears, and looking ahead, a heavy stench of blood assaulted his senses.

Although Ilhan had killed people, and quite a few at that, those people were either too afraid to resist or unable to resist. He had never seen one of his own people killed.

Ilhan felt a churning in his stomach and quickly grabbed the wall for support. At that moment, his stomach began to spasm violently again, and a hot stream with a strong burning sensation gushed from his mouth and nostrils. Tears and snot also flowed uncontrollably.

Ilhan looked back and saw that there were quite a few people who looked like him, which made him feel a little better.

However, the shouts of battle ahead brought him back to reality. Looking at the fleeing soldiers and the Russian troops who were attacking, Ilhan's mind went blank.

"We clearly had more people on our side, and someone even came over to brag about their success just now. How did this happen all of a sudden?"

At this moment, Ilhan's old servant quickly pulled him back, but he was shouting.

"Charge! Charge! Otherwise we'll all die! Five hundred kulush for every Russian soldier you kill, and I'll kill his whole family if anyone runs away!"
"Charge!" The Ilhan family was still notorious, and the city guards who had originally wanted to escape picked up their weapons again after hearing this.

A Yuzbashi (a military officer of similar rank to a captain) drew his scimitar.

"Charge with me! Five hundred kurush per kill! Charge!"

Led by this junior military officer, hundreds of men launched a counter-offensive through the narrow streets.

However, this could not be called a battle. Although both sides charged head-on with guns, after a round of gunfire, the rabble that had just been stirred up collapsed again.

The collapse of the Ilkhanate army directly resulted in the Ottoman New Army, which was defending on the other side, losing its flank protection. As a result, the Ottoman New Army collapsed almost at the same time as the city's defenders retreated.

At this moment, the Russians truly saw hope, because with the collapse of these two Ottoman armies, the Ottoman palace was right in front of them. As long as they charged up the high ground, victory would be within their grasp.

On the other side, the bloody battle between Shturkoby and the main Russian forces continued, and the buildings on both sides of the street had collapsed, with the area of ​​barricades that needed to be built growing larger and larger.

What's even more critical is that because Shturkobai suffered relatively few losses, his troops have not been replenished for a long time.

But on the other side was Stepan Khrulev, the Russian army's land commander in this raid on Constantinople, and the Russian army had been fully replenished in terms of manpower, weapons, and ammunition.

With the tide turning against each other, Shturkobai was at his wits' end and could only order his men to conscript men from the surrounding houses.

Now, Shturkobai has only one option, which is to use human lives to build another barricade.

Groups of civilians carrying furniture, blankets, and sandbags were driven to the front lines.

Shturkobai personally whipped the panicked crowd.

"Your task is to pile up your belongings in front of you. Once you make three round trips, you will be allowed to leave. After the war ends, the Sultan will even give you a reward!"
Depart immediately! Anyone who retreats or hesitates will be killed without mercy!

Hundreds of civilians appeared in the ruins on both sides of the front line, trying to build barricades, but the Russians were not going to let them have their way.

Stepan Khrulev immediately ordered the focus of the attack to be shifted from the few remaining Ottoman artillerymen to the civilians who were building barricades.

However, Stepan Khrulev did not have as many munitions as Shturkoby had civilians, and high walls were once again built over the ruins of the collapsed houses.

Stepan Khrulev slammed his fist against the low wall beneath him, unaware that his other feint attacks were progressing rapidly and were already close to the Ottoman Imperial Palace.

An Ottoman guard stumbled into the heart of Topkapi Palace.

"Sultan, the city defenses can't hold out any longer! The Russians are less than 300 meters from the palace!"

Murad V's eyes widened upon hearing this.

"Impossible! Absolutely impossible!"

He rushed to the balcony, where there was a battlefield observation device he had bought from France.

However, when Murad V arrived on the balcony, he no longer needed the professional battlefield observation device, as he could see with the naked eye that the Russian army was slowly advancing through the streets.

Upon seeing this, Murad V collapsed to the ground, shouting.

"Let the Imperial Guards take the lead! Let Abdullah send out all his men! We cannot let the Russians advance another step!"